It’s instructive to note that the two young women who are the central characters in this first feature from writer/director Jasmin Mozaffari have a plan to head to New York City, but we never hear the name of the small Canadian town they’re leaving behind.

For Lou and Chantal (Michaela Kurimsky, Karena Evans), where they’re coming from scarcely matters. Firecrackers was partly shot in St. Thomas, Ont. It’s based on Mozaffari’s well-received 2013 short of the same name, which included scenes in North Bay. The director grew up in Barrie. These are places bored teens seek to leave, and where a young woman of colour like Chantal stands out, often uncomfortably.

Befitting the title, the two teens practically explode on the screen in the opening scene, cursing and fighting. They’ve quit their motel cleaning job and are blowing off steam before hitting the road. But Chantal’s ex responds brutally when he learns what they’re up to, and when Lou clumsily strikes back, the two find themselves stripped of the resources they need to leave.

Mozaffari is sympathetic to her characters, held back as much by their sex as their poverty and social class. Her use of shaky cinematography is distracting in the long shots, but in any case the most effective scenes are those that feature Lou in closeup. Kurimsky crafts a powerful performance, pulling off a potent mix of confidence and doubt that comes off as thinly disguised swagger. In the scene where her hard-earned escape money is taken away, you hear real panic in her voice.

Firecrackers’ genesis as a short film becomes apparent by the end of the feature’s 92 minutes, when the pacing becomes looser, the style more experimental, and the story less sure of itself. And the conclusion doesn’t quite feel earned, given what has led up to it. Still, this is a well-honed debut from a director clearly in touch with her own small-town roots, and eager to go places.